Technology

Creating Black History One Wiki Page at a Time

Published

10 years ago

March 5, 2015

Oakland Post

Howard University fills in some historical blanks. (Courtesy Photo)

By Khari Arnold
Special to the NNPA from Howard University News Service

WASHINGTON – Though he was the first African American with a doctoral degree in educational psychology as well as editor of the Journal of Negro Education for 30 years, Charles Henry Thompson’s page on Wikipedia didn’t show much.

It didn’t include his rich background of innovation and scholarship or even photography. Instead, it was a mere two sentences.

That remained the case until Howard University students and faculty gathered at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center February 19 to rewrite his description and show others how to do the same for other important African American figures.

It was called an “Edit-a-thon.” Howard educators, historians and students came together to fill in gaps and add extensive information for significant African-American figures.

“When there are major historical and cultural figures that are not there, we’ve done them a disservice,” said Howard Dodson, the director of the Spingarn Center, who also served as an editor for the day.

Dodson was contacted in November by Wikimedia D.C., a regional branch of the foundation that operates Wikipedia and focuses on advancing its knowledge through the help of universities, libraries and museums. The foundation wanted Howard University’s help in advancing Wikipedia’s inclusion of more African Americans.

“Wikipedia is like the gold standard in the world right now of encyclopedias,” Dodson said.

“So, certainly when people go online looking for information about virtually anything, Wikipedia is one of the sources they rely on very heavily, and relatively speaking, a very small percentage of the entries deal with the Black experience.”

After an editing tutorial, the Howard team researched pages that needed sprucing up, gaps that needed filling and photos that needed placing.

While some gathered reference materials from the wide collection in Spingarn, others knew valid information from first-hand experiences with certain important African-American figures.

“I think the reason Howard is [ideal] is because we go to Wikipedia with knowledge,” said Greg Carr, the chair of Afro-American Studies at Howard.

“We’re not coming looking for knowledge. When you combine that with the holdings of Moorland Spingarn, then it makes it easy.”

Carr personally knew prominent figures who were missing information, such as Jacob Carruthers, one of the first Blacks to integrate the University of Texas law school and play an integral role in the U.S. Supreme Court case Sweatt vs. Painter, and John Henry Clarke, a historian and advisor to Malcolm X.

Carr said his library of nearly 40,000 books and other resources will be used as the Howard staff and others continue to process begun.

“I think it was important, because what this signals is that Howard is now engaged and that this is a beginning,” he said. “What I hope will happen is that a network of black institutions will join Howard. This is an opportunity for us to collaborate.”

Dodson suggested the “edit-a-thon” become an annual event and that it could also benefit as a classroom project, serving as a learning tool and possible catalyst to teach black history to Wikipedia’s global audience.

Though the digital encyclopedia raises questions in terms of veracity for many scholars, it makes readers aware of the existence of information that leads to further research, Dodson said.

“For young people especially, if it doesn’t show up in an Internet search, the perception is that it doesn’t exist, or it’s not important,” he said.

James Hare, president of Wikimedia D.C., said third-party and reliable resources, such as published books, journals and newspapers, is how Wikipedia prefers to gain its credibility. Its goal is to summarize existing research rather than to publish novel research on its own, Hare said.

Hare said Howard helped improve such credibility, and he “would like to work with Howard University more, especially in regards to topics in Black history that aren’t as represented on Wikipedia.”

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Self-eSTEM Empowers BIPOC Women, Girls in Science, Math

In January 2025, Self-eSTEM will launch digital and generative AI programming, which provides digital literacy and AI literacy training through an entrepreneurial project-based activity. This programming will be a hybrid (i.e. in-person and online). Additionally, thanks to a grant from Comcast, in spring 2025, the organization will have a co-ed series for middle and high school students.

Published

3 days ago

December 9, 2024

Oakland Post

Adamaka Ajaelo. Courtesy photo.

By Y’Anad Burrell
Special to The Post

In a world where technology plays an increasingly central role in all aspects of life, the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education cannot be overstated. Recognizing the significance of STEM for the future, focusing on young women and girls is a critical step in achieving gender equality and empowering the next generation.

Self-eSTEM, an Oakland-based non-profit organization, was founded by Adamaka Ajaelo, an Oakland native who had a successful corporate career with several Bay Area technology and non-tech companies. Ajaelo boldly decided to step away from these companies to give 100% of her time and talent to the non-profit organization she started in 2014 in the belief that she can change the game in innovation and future STEM leaders.

Over the course of a decade, Ajaelo has provided futurist tech programming to more than 2,000 BIPOC women and girls. The organization has an Early STEM Immersion Program for ages 7-17, Emerging Leaders Workshops for ages 18-25 and volunteer network opportunities for ages 25 and up.

While the organization’s programs center on innovation and technology, participants also gain other valuable skills critical for self-development as they prepare for a workforce future. “Self-eSTEM encourages young women to expand on teamwork, communication, creativity, and problem-solving skills. The organization allows young women to enter STEM careers and pathways,” said Trinity Taylor, a seventh-year innovator.

“Our journey over the last decade is a testament to the power of community and opportunity, and I couldn’t be more excited for what the future holds as we continue to break barriers and spark dreams,” said Ajaelo.

“By encouraging girls to explore STEM fields from a young age, we foster their intellectual growth and equip them with the tools needed to thrive in a competitive global economy,” Ajaelo says.

Empowering young girls through STEM education is also a key driver of innovation and progress. When young women and girls are encouraged to pursue careers in STEM, they bring unique perspectives and problem-solving approaches to the table, leading to more diverse and inclusive solutions. This diversity is crucial for driving creativity and pushing boundaries in scientific and technological advancements.

Self-eSTEM has fundraising opportunities year-round, but year-end giving is one of the most critical times to support the program. Visit www.selfestem.org to donate to the organization, as your generosity and support will propel programming support for today’s innovators.

You will also find more details about Self-eSTEM’s programs on their website and social channels @selfestemorg

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Feds: California Will Be Home to New National Semiconductor Technology Center

California was chosen by the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) and Natcast, the operator of the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) to be home to the headquarters for the National Semiconductor Technology Center – as part of the Biden-Harris Admin’s CHIPS and Science Act. The CHIPS for America Design and Collaboration Facility (DCF) will be one of three CHIPS for America research and design (R&D) facilities and will also operate as the headquarters for the NTSC and Natcast.

Published

1 month ago

November 6, 2024

Oakland Post

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By Antonio Ray Harvey

The CHIPS for America Design and Collaboration Facility (DCF) will be one of three CHIPS for America research and design (R&D) facilities and will also operate as the headquarters for the NTSC and Natcast.

“We are thrilled that the Department of Commerce and Natcast chose to locate this critically important facility in Sunnyvale, the heart of the Silicon Valley, alongside the world’s largest concentration of semiconductor businesses, talent, intellectual property, and investment activity,” said Dee Dee Myers, Senior Economic Advisor to Gov. Gavin Newsom and Director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). “The Newsom Administration and our partners across the industry know how important it is to shorten the timeframe from R&D to commercialization.”

According to GO-Biz, the DCF is expected to direct over $1 billion in research funding and create more than 200 employees in the next decade. The facility will serve as the center for advanced semiconductor research in chip design, electronic design automation, chip and system architecture, and hardware security. The CHF will be essential to the country’s semiconductor workforce development efforts.

As detailed in the released NSTC Strategic Plan, the DCF will suppress the obstacles to “semiconductor prototyping, experimentation,” and other R&D activities that will enhance the country’s global power and leadership in design, materials, and process innovation while enabling a vigorous domestic industr“Establishing the NSTC headquarters and design hub in California will capitalize on our state’s unparalleled assets to grow a highly skilled workforce and develop next-generation advancements,” stated U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.). “This CHIPS Act funding will propel emerging technologies and protect America’s global semiconductor leadership, all while bringing good-paying jobs to our state.”

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Advanced Conductors Provide Path for Grid Expansion

Utility companies in the United States could double electric transmission capacity by 2035 by replacing existing transmission lines with those made from advanced materials, according to a new study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Published

1 month ago

October 29, 2024

Oakland Post

Photo courtesy UC Berkeley News.

By Matthew Burciaga

UC Berkeley News

Led by Duncan Callaway, professor and chair of the Energy and Resources Group (ERG), and Amol Phadke, an affiliate and senior scientist at the Goldman School of Public Policy, the first-of-its-kind study details a faster and more cost-effective way to expand the grid and connect the more than 1,200 gigawatts of renewable energy projects awaiting approval. The analysis was first published last December as a working paper by the Energy Institute at Haas and has been covered by the New York Times, the Washington Post, Heatmap News, and other news outlets.

“Expanding transmission capacity is critical to decarbonization, and we sought to study ways to build it faster and cheaper,” said Callaway.

It currently takes 10 to 15 years to build a new power line and the U.S. is building transmission lines at a lower rate than it was in the past decade. Without sufficient capacity, renewable energy projects often sit in limbo for years as transmission operators study what upgrades—if any—are needed to accommodate the increased loads.

The authors modeled various scenarios to determine if replacing existing transmission conductors with those made with advanced composite-core materials—a process known as reconductoring—could provide a pathway to faster grid expansion.

Several reconductoring projects have been initiated in Belgium and the Netherlands, and utility companies in the U.S. have used the material to string transmission lines across wide spans like river crossings. That technology, however, has not made its way to the majority of overhead power lines that feed residential and commercial customers.

“As we learned more about the technology, we realized that no one had done the detailed modeling needed to understand the technology’s potential for large-scale transmission capacity increases,” said Phadke.

Based on the authors’ projections, it is cheaper—and quicker—for utility companies to replace the 53,000 existing transmission lines with advanced composite-core materials than it is to build entirely new transmission lines.

They assert that doing so would reduce wholesale electricity costs by 3% to 4% on average—translating to $85 billion in system cost savings by 2035 and $180 billion by 2050.

“The level of interest we’ve received from federal and state agencies, transmission companies and utilities is extremely encouraging, and since our initial report, the Department of Energy has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to reconductoring projects,” said co-author Emilia Chojkiewicz, a PhD student in ERG and an affiliate of the Goldman School of Public Policy. “We are looking forward to learning about these projects as they unfold.”

Additional co-authors include Nikit Abhyankar and Umed Paliwal, affiliates at the Goldman School of Public Policy; and Casey Baker and Ric O’Connell of GridLab, a nonprofit that provides comprehensive technical grid expertise to policy makers and advocates.